Manufacturing

Your recent stories last week about the closing of Sparrows Point and the Maryland Port Authority's purchase of new cranes from China were sad in many ways ("Gloom hangs over Sparrows Point mill," June 5). This state does not care about manufacturing, even though it could be the foundation of the region's economy. Maryland does little to encourage an industry that at one time helped this country lead the world. Instead, the state purchases $40 million worth of equipment from China, a country that really should give us the cranes, since they will be used primarily to unload cheap Chinese consumer goods and to load raw materials we are exporting to China.

By Luke Broadwater and Lorraine Mirabella and The Baltimore Sun | October 6, 2014

After decades of manufacturing decline in Baltimore, city officials say they believe industry is poised to bounce back — and they want to promote a new education track in city schools to train students for the field. The Computer Numerical Control Manufacturing program, being offered this year at Carver Vocational-Technical High School, will train high school students for hard-to-fill skilled machinist jobs. Despite years of job losses, more than 12,000 people worked at more than 440 manufacturing companies last year in Baltimore.

John Danko got his Baltimore company's first 3-D printer four years ago, and he said it's given him a front-row seat for a manufacturing revolution. In an office across the street from the foundry where Danko Arlington's molten metal flows, he prints out the industrial patterns he said he could no longer find skilled workers to do by hand. Employees designing products on computers use the technology to spit out prototypes more quickly. Some see in this the potential for a change as substantial as the Industrial Revolution - a different way of making things that could kick-start tiny operations, disrupt entire industries and literally transform the landscape.

The country's top foreign trade official told a gathering at a Baltimore County electronics components and design company Friday about gains in U.S. manufacturing jobs, and agreements being negotiated that would open two-thirds of the globe to free trade. U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman's appearance at Zentech Manufacturing Inc. in Woodlawn was part of Maryland's celebration of National Manufacturing Day, first organized by several industry groups in 2012. Across Maryland, state and local officials and business leaders conducted factory tours and gave speeches, all to highlight the significance and promise of manufacturing jobs in Maryland, which made up about 3.5 percent of total state employment in August.

Consumer confidence is weakening as manufacturing and exports, two engines of the recovery, are stalling, reports showed yesterday."The economy is not really gaining momentum, but not losing momentum," said Peter Cardillo, director of research at Westfalia Investments.The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index declined 84 in early April from 85.9 in March, a sign that post-election euphoria has worn off, analysts said.Industrial production was unchanged in March, stalled by a storm that paralyzed the Atlantic coast, the Federal Reserve System reported.

The double whammy of the recession and Pentagon budget cuts hit J. Alexander Doyle's small manufacturing company hard -- real hard."Our employment and sales fell 30 and 35 percent, respectively, during the past year and a half," said Mr. Doyle, the owner of Micro Machining Inc., a precision-tool manufacturer in Woodlawn that employs 34 workers and grossed about $2.25 million last year.His company is hardly the only manufacturer in the state that has suffered in recent years. Mr. Doyle, president of the Maryland Manufacturers Association, a division of the Maryland Chamber of Commerce, said a lot of other factories -- big and small -- have been struggling.

Allen Case, a founder of Case-Mason Inc. in Joppa, collapsed and died Dec. 15 as he was leaving his office to pursue one of his favorite pastimes -- goose-hunting on the Eastern Shore.Mr. Case, 64, of Warren Manor Court in Cockeysville drove himself to Fallston General Hospital complaining of a headache and was taken to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center, where he died of a brain aneurysm.As an organ donor, Mr. Case helped three other patients.A native of Quincy, Mass., Mr. Case was a 1945 graduate of the St. Paul's School for Boys and then attended the Johns Hopkins University, where he joined the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity.

Terumo Medical Corp., a Japanese maker of disposable medical products that has a major manufacturing facility in Cecil County, announced that the plant is undergoing a $27 million expansion.The project will permit Terumo to produce several new product lines and provide 29 new jobs, according to the Maryland Department of Economic and Employment Development. Terumo currently employs 478 workers at its 417,000-square-foot plant, which is in Elkton."The Terumo Medical Corp.'s goal is to eventually produce 80 to 90 percent of Terumo Corp.

Albert Weitzman, philanthropist and founder of Display Craft Manufacturing Co. Inc., died Saturday of complications after surgery at Sinai Hospital. The Pikesville resident was 73.With his mustering-out pay from World War II, Mr. Weitzman founded the architectural woodworking and fixtures firm in 1946."

Automated equipment producer F&M Manufacturing Inc. of Westminster will add 75 employees to its current 100, partly because of a state loan from the Board of Public Works that will help the company build a plant to consolidate its five locations.The $375,000 loan will cover only part of the $3 million price tag on the 80,000-square-foot manufacturing and headquarters site in the West Branch Trade Center in Westminster. Construction is expected to be completed by early August.F&M Chairman Dana Edward Caro said the new jobs will be divided equally between engineering and manufacturing.

A large commercial building was damaged in a two-alarm fire Friday night, Anne Arundel Fire Department said. Firefighters got the fire under control at 10:30 p.m., about an hour after they were called to the 600 block of Pittman Road, said Lt. Craig Oldershaw, a department spokesman. Oldershaw said fire investigators were trying to determine the cause of the blaze in one part of what he described as a large manufacturing building. Hazarous materials personnel also responded because of the presence of a compound, manganese oxide, in the building.

For Anthony Brown, the Hobby-Lobby decision seemed like manna from Heaven ( "Corporations trump people," June 30). Unable to run on Maryland's economy, jobs growth, tax rates, the health exchange rollout, his competence as an executive or the other issues central to this election, Mr. Brown and his special interest defenders are instead trying to frighten women for his own political gain. In his calculation, this is easier than, say, addressing the tens of thousands of women who have lost their jobs during his administration and, along with it, their employer-sponsored health insurance and the family planning and women's health services it covered.

An addiction rehabilitation psychiatrist with a history of treatment for alcohol and drug abuse was among those charged Wednesday with manufacturing and distributing the drug Ecstasy at a Towson home. Dr. Priscilla W. Sheldon-Cost, 51, and her boyfriend, Thomas Ronald Joyave, 52, of the 700 block of Walker Ave. are both charged with five counts of narcotics offenses, including manufacturing and possessing drugs with the intent to distribute them, Baltimore County police said. Vincent Mark Ricker, 24, of the 7700 block of Fairgreen Road faces the same charges.

The Manufacturing Training Initiative for Cecil and Harford County was the recipient of an EARN (Employment Advancement Right Now) grant through the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, according to Bruce England, Executive Director of the Susquehanna Workforce Network. This training initiative was conceived through a manufacturing partnership called the Susquehanna Manufacturing Coalition. The Susquehanna Manufacturing Coalition is comprised of local manufacturers, offices of economic development, education entities and the Susquehanna Workforce Network.

John Danko got his Baltimore company's first 3-D printer four years ago, and he said it's given him a front-row seat for a manufacturing revolution. In an office across the street from the foundry where Danko Arlington's molten metal flows, he prints out the industrial patterns he said he could no longer find skilled workers to do by hand. Employees designing products on computers use the technology to spit out prototypes more quickly. Some see in this the potential for a change as substantial as the Industrial Revolution - a different way of making things that could kick-start tiny operations, disrupt entire industries and literally transform the landscape.

Gov. Martin O'Malley signed a bill Thursday creating a regional 3D printing and additive manufacturing authority in collaboration with the Edgewood Chemical Biological Center at Aberdeen Proving Ground. The bill, creating the Northeast Maryland Additive Manufacturing Authority, or NMAMIA, has been heralded by Harford legislators as the future of manufacturing to bring jobs back into the area and ensure Maryland is at the forefront of innovation. Harford Del. Mary-Dulany James and Del. David Rudolph, who represents Cecil County, introduced the NMAMIA legislation in the House of Delegates and Harford State Sens.

TRANSFERRING TECHNOLOGY from the laboratory to the manufacturing floor is the goal of a not-for-profit organization just getting under way in Maryland. The Foundation for Manufacturing Excellence is intended to strengthen the productivity of small and medium-sized manufacturers by improving their use of available technology.History: During the 1980s Maryland lost a significant number of manufacturers due to fierce competition from foreign manufacturers and from the economic development efforts of other states.

Which is more important -- jobs or productivity?That was the question that confronted a group of manufacturers yesterday as they met for the first time as the state's new Commission on Manufacturing Competitiveness.The 24-member committee, created by the General Assembly during its last session, is charged with advising the state on how to make Maryland more hospitable to manufacturers.The issue of jobs vs. productivity was raised by Pradeep Ganguly, associate director of research for the state Department of Economic and Employment Development, in a presentation about the condition of manufacturing in the state.

Helping manufacturers in Maryland, where the sector has changed - and shrunk - dramatically in the last generation, takes a certain type of person. Like Brian Sweeney, an engineer and attorney who grew up in a factory. Sweeney is executive director of the Maryland Manufacturing Extension Partnership. The Columbia nonprofit works with small and medium-sized makers of goods in the state to identify problems and opportunities and is among the groups that launched a Make it in Maryland campaign last week.

A Japanese firm that has a long history with Baltimore-based Hedwin Corp. was named the winning bidder for the manufacturer in a bankruptcy auction Friday, a development that Hedwin officials said would save the company's 300 jobs. Fujimori Kogyo Co. offered $22.2 million after just over two hours of bidding, up from its initial bid of $16.5 million. A team from rival bidder Inteplast Group, a New Jersey maker of plastic products, huddled in another room for five minutes and returned to bow out. "Inteplast has decided not to bid further in this auction," said Arthur E. Rosenberg, an attorney for the company.